


It's Magic, After All

by lady_needless_litany



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Christmas, Don't copy to another site, Fluff, Gen, If this was a TV episode, One Shot, it would be a filler episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21901252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_needless_litany/pseuds/lady_needless_litany
Summary: Hermione's stuggling. Luna comes to the rescue.Set duringThe Order of the Phoenix.
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Luna Lovegood
Kudos: 7





	It's Magic, After All

"Colovaria. Colovaria." Hermione pointed her wand at the candle, with feeling. "I said, colovaria!"

When the candle remained stubbornly blue, she planted her elbows on the desk and buried her face in her hands. What was most frustrating was that she'd managed the spell a couple of minutes earlier, changing the candle from off-white to cobalt, just to see if it worked. And it had. But now she couldn't replicate the feat.

It was _Witch Weekly_ 's fault. And Ginny's, by extension, since she had given it to her.

The cover had promised 'Ten Easy DIY Decorations to Stun Your In-Laws!' — 'easy', in this case, being highly subjective. What she was _attempting_ to do was attach a set of red and gold candles to a little fir tree that she’d bought in Hogsmeade. Supposedly, she was meant to be able to make them burn constantly, without them melting. In her mind, she could envision it: a scaled-down version of Hogwarts’ trees, perched on the mantelpiece in her parents’ living room. They’d love it.

If she could get it to work, that was.

A bright voice interrupted her. "Hi, there!"

Surprised, she jolted upright, heart hammering. _Please don't be Umbridge. Or Filch. Or Malfoy._

It wasn't, of course: none of them had ever said anything that could be construed as 'bright'. Instead, Hermione found Luna Lovegood standing on the opposite side of the table.

Relief swept over her. "Hi, Luna. D'you want to sit?"

She acquiesced. For a moment, Hermione was slightly nonplussed: although she knew Luna through the DA, they'd had little contact. When it came to conversation, she had no idea where to start.

Thankfully, Luna spoke first. "What are you doing there?"

"I'm trying to turn them red," she explained. "And make it so that they burn continuously. They need to be miniature, too."

"Oh, I see!" Luna said, catching on far more quickly than anyone else would have. "Like a small version of the trees outside the Great Hall."

"Exactly. It's a gift for my parents."

"That's nice," Luna said, endlessly genuine. "I always think it's more thoughtful to make things, if you can."

Hermione nodded.

"Don't let Umbridge catch you, though," she continued. "You're not breaking any rules, but she keeps changing them, so…"

It was true. Umbridge seemed determined to prevent them from actually using magic — in her classroom and everywhere else. Dumbledore was, so far, stopping her from _technically_ changing the rules, but he couldn't be there every time she stalked the corridors, handing out detentions for anyone that she deemed 'frivolous' with their spells.

Automatically, Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ugh. She's driving me insane. And I wouldn't be risking it, except Fred and George keep setting off fireworks in the common room."

Luna's eyebrows skyrocketed. "Fireworks."

"Pocket-sized ones," Hermione reassured her. "They keep saying that they're testing them — for what, I don't know."

Luna's eyes widened. "Sounds thrilling."

"It keeps you on your toes," Hermione agreed dryly.

"If you want somewhere quieter to work, you could always come to the Ravenclaw common room. I think we even have a couple of books that might be able to help you."

It sounded tempting, but Hermione's cautious side always won out. "Is that allowed?"

She shrugged. "Probably not. But Umbridge can't get in there, so she won't know, and Flitwick loves you."

"That would be brilliant."

"Let's go, then." Luna stood, reaching out and carefully tucking the little tree under one arm. "I'll help you carry everything."

Hermione blinked. "Now?"

"Of course! It's only a couple of days before the end of term. We need to get these candles working before then."

All of a sudden, her heart seemed to contract, overwhelmed by Luna's kindness. _How can someone that's mocked so much still manage to be so open?_

* * *

Hermione often begrudged the amount of stairs involved in walking up to the Gryffindor common room. Getting to the Ravenclaw one was, somehow, even worse.

A final twist of the spiral staircase deposited them on a landing at the top of the tower, in front of a heavy wooden door. Apart from a bronze, eagle-shaped door knocker, it was plain. There was no handle with which to open it.

Hermione threw a quizzical look at her companion. "How do you get in?"

"The door knocker. You've got to answer a riddle," Luna explained.

"What if I get it wrong?" she asked, suddenly concerned.

"You won't."

With Luna's confidence as reassurance, Hermione stepped forward. "Hello?"

Even though she had been expecting it, hearing and seeing a door knocker speak was utterly disconcerting. "Good evening."

"Can I…"

"Enter the common room?" it enquired. If it had had a human face, Hermione sensed that its eyebrows would have been raised. "No. You are not a Ravenclaw."

Luna spoke from behind her. "Please? She's with me."

"I am aware, Ms Lovegood. That is not sufficient."

Muttering under her breath, Luna appeared more than mildly offended.

That resolved it. "Let me try. Ask me a riddle."

"No riddle for you, Ms Granger," the eagle replied; how it knew her name, she wasn't sure. "Instead, a simple question: why should I admit you?"

"I was invited," she said slowly, letting her speech take on the formal cadence of books, in an attempt to match the eagle's dignified pace. "Because I seek knowledge that I cannot find or practice elsewhere."

The eagle took a long moment to consider her answer. "Acceptable," it said, at last. "Welcome."

As the door swung open and the two of them stepped over the threshold, Hermione immediately fell in love with the room beyond.

It was circular, like the Gryffindor common room, and lined with tall windows, permitting views of the lake, the forest, and the Quidditch ground — and, most strikingly, the sun sinking behind the mountains. What was left of the sunlight illuminated the royal blue wallpaper, the scattered furniture, the students ranged across the room, working. Directly opposite the door was an alcove, lined with books; a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw stood before them, guarding them.

Unlike the rest of the castle, the room wasn't bedecked in Christmas ornaments. Instead, a mass of golden sparks hung just below the ceiling, suspended overhead like a billion glimmering stars, and the air was permeated by the smell of orange and cloves.

Luna contained a smile, guessing Hermione's thoughts. "It's nice, isn't it?"

"It's beautiful."

It took a moment for her to remember that she needed to move. When she did, Luna pointed her towards a small table that was off to one side, near the alcove. They sat, setting down their armfuls of candles and mini Christmas trees. As they did so, she noticed someone waving at her from the other side of the room — Terry Boot, a fellow DA member.

When she waved back, he called across, "What are you doing here?"

He was instantly _shushed_ by a pair of seventh years, who were buried in homework and clearly disapproved of the fact that he was using his time to play Gobstones against a rather hapless-looking first year.

"Research," she whisper-shouted back. "Thought Umbridge might kick me out of the library."

He laughed. "Well, I reckon you should've been a Ravenclaw anyway."

Gently, Luna recalled her attention. "D'you want some hot chocolate? I'm going to make some."

With a promise to return shortly, Luna disappeared up a set of stairs near the door that Hermione had previously overlooked; she assumed they led to the dormitories. Feeling a little out-of-place, she went back to re-reading the magazine's instructions, hoping they would yield some clue about what she was doing wrong.

When Luna returned, she was carrying two steaming mugs and had Padma Patil in tow.

"Hi, Padma." Hermione didn't know Padma, beyond the fact that they had History of Magic together, but she seemed nice enough and responded in kind.

"Here. It should be the right temperature — it's magic, after all." Luna passed one mug to Hermione, who raised it to her lips and took a tentative sip.

Luna watched her take her first sip. "You know, it was the first thing my Dad taught me to do with magic. He shouldn't have done, since we're not supposed to do magic outside of school, but he did. It's really simple."

She hummed appreciatively. "It tastes amazing, though."

Luna just smiled, leaving Padma to pick up the conversation. "What brings you to Ravenclaw?"

"Oh, I'm trying to do this thing that I saw in _Witch Weekly_ ," she replied, faintly embarrassed. "As a Christmas present to my parents. It's not going well, so Luna said there might be a book here that could help."

" _Witch Weekly_ 's suggestions are always terrible," Padma said, shaking her head. "Great ideas, but I've never gotten any of them to work."

"This one's so straightforward. I feel like a complete idiot for not being able to work it out," she said glumly.

Padma held a hand out, businesslike. "Let's see the instructions."

Thus commenced one of the strangest - and most peaceful - evenings of her life.

By the end of it, they'd had three different books out, including a mammoth encyclopaedia of charms borrowed from the judgemental seventh years. Between them, with Hermione's natural flair for Charms and Padma's logic and Luna's out-of-the-blue suggestions, they managed to piece it together: it was a combination of low-quality candles that were poorly enchanted to resist most magical modification and the need for a touch of Transfiguration. It was a lot of effort, really, for something that purported to be so simple. But that was Ravenclaws for you - they couldn't leave a problem unsolved.

It was growing late by the time she returned to Gryffindor tower, receiving a snide remark about curfews from the Fat Lady as she entered. People had already begun to drift off to bed, leaving the room far calmer than its usual state.

Inevitably, though, Fred and George were still there, lounging by the fireplace. "What have you got there?" Fred asked, nosy as ever.

She paused. "Christmas presents."

He made a show of fluttering his eyelashes. "For me?"

Indecorous, she snorted. "You wish."

She walked past them, realising, in that moment, that she felt absolutely contented. And that she needed to add Luna and Padma to her Christmas card list.


End file.
